come to brazil: corbyn besson

𝒅𝒐𝒄𝒆; 𝒂𝒕 𝒂 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒚.

"Rio's really beautiful." I nodded as we hopped off another tram. 

"It really is." Mateo agreed. The city was a lot more alive now it was the daytime, with people bustling about and different varieties of music playing from every direction. "There's a festival tomorrow." Mateo added, "It's really cool."

"Sounds great." I smiled. I couldn't help but think of how easy it was Mateo, much like it was with Corbyn. Except for the only difference between Mateo and Corbyn was that Mateo was here and Corbyn was there. And that Abuela wanted me to be with Mateo, not Corbyn.

"People wear bright colours." Mateo began to explain and we wandered along the cobbled streets. We had already been walking for about two hours I had realised when I checked the time. It felt like we had barely been walking for twenty minutes. I guess that meant I was having a good time. 

"I'll have to see what I can find in my suitcase." I shrugged. The first thing that came to mind with the beautiful dress me and Corbyn saw and were going to buy while we were shopping before I got a call saying Bea had got rushed into hospital. I gulped, we never even got to buy that dress.

"If you can't find anything, there's a woman who owns a shop full of dresses. I'm sure she could find something for you, she is buenos amigos with my papá." Mateo suggested. I looked up at him. 

"Gracias." I smiled. Mateo looked at me and smiled back. My stomach fluttered with butterflies. "So, what do you wear?"

"Redshirt, green shorts, and of course the blue flip flops." Mateo laughed. I laughed along with him.

"I can't wait to see that." I nudged him, playfully.

The rest of the day went by faster than I had anticipated, and I failed to show my surprise when Mateo told me it was four o'clock.

"The day has gone by pretty fast, eh?" Mateo smiled.

"Too fast." I sighed. He side glanced me and smiled again, I smiled back. I wasn't sure if this was flirting, and he was holding off because I was still dating Corbyn, or if I was just receiving the wrong signals. 

"I think to end the day, we should go to one of my favourite places. Down the road from my papá's shop, there's a wall that looks over the beach. It's beautiful at sunset." Mateo suggested.

"That sounds great." I nodded, and he lead the way.

𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒃𝒚𝒏'𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒗.

I sent a message to Ronnie, although I didn't hint anything. I just asked if we could facetime later. Of course, we didn't need to. I repeatedly checked my phone as I waited for my uber to see if she had replied.

She hadn't.

She was probably just helping her abuela or something, she was so sweet. 

The uber pulled up and he asked me where I was going. 

"Somewhere in the centre of Rio." I shrugged. The driver gave me a look that was mixed with tiredness and confusion, but he didn't ask any further questions. 

When he dropped me off, I truly had no idea what I was doing. I wanted to surprise Ronnie, but how was I supposed to surprise her if I had no clue where she was? 

I guess her abuela had been living there for a long time, people must've know Ronnie if she's her abuela's granddaughter. 

The first promising thing I spotted was a corner shop where an older man was just stepping outside to close the shop up.

"Um... hola." I jogged up to him. He looked at me strangely. "I'm American." 

"I can see." The man sighed, turning his whole body to face me. "What can I do for you?" 

"I was just wondering if you knew Verónica?" I asked. The man's expression softened at the sound of her name. I wondered why.

"Verónica De Leon? Of course!" The man smiled, "What have you got to do with Verónica?"

"Well, I'm her boyfriend." I smiled, proudly. The man's expression fell.

"You're American boy?" The man asked. I flinched.

"I'm... I'm what-?"

"Her abuela talks." The man sighed, "A lot."

"Um, I don't think I understand-,"

"I believe she is down there, with my hijo." And with that, the man turned and walked back into the shop. I raised an eyebrow. What did hijo mean? Maybe dog? I shrugged it off and started walking in the direction that the man pointed to.

As I got closer, I could see the back of her, she was looking over the beach from the wall she was sitting on. It was definitely her, I could tell by her hair and her distinct style of clothing. I smiled and started to walk faster. 

Then, something approached her. And it wasn't a dog. It was a guy.

I stopped in my tracks as I watched them from about a metre away. Neither of them had noticed me yet. Ronnie turned to face him and smiled, he handed her one of the two ice-creams he was holding. 

She said something that I couldn't quite hear before he turned her around, put an arm around her and gave her shoulders a small squeeze. That's when Ronnie noticed me, her face fell. We stood looking at each other for a few brief moments.

I shook my head slowly before turning around to walk in the opposite direction.

"No! No, Corbyn!" I heard Ronnie shout before running footsteps. She caught up with me and put a hand on my shoulder. "Hey... you didn't tell me you were coming."

"That was the plan." I mumbled, "I guess if I told you, things would be different." I gestured to the guy who remained by the wall, looking over at us.

"You don't understand. He's my friend, he-," I stopped her and sighed. I took both her hands in mine. Ronnie looked up at me, tears in her eyes.

"I love you, Ronnie, so much." My voice wobbled, I was on the verge of tears. "But I don't think you love me back." 

𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆.
"𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒕, 𝑰 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆, 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒉
𝑰 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝑩𝒓𝒂𝒛𝒊𝒍"